A Day in the Life of Your Data: Apple Details How Companies Can Track You Across Apps and Websites

Thursday is Data Privacy Day, and Apple is marking the occasion in a few ways, including sharing a new "A Day in the Life of Your Data" document that details how third-party companies can track user data across websites and apps.

apple privacy
Apple says that, on average, mobile apps include six "trackers" from third-party companies for the "sole purpose of collecting and tracking people and their personal information," fueling an industry valued at $227 billion per year. "A Day in the Life of Your Data" aims to show what advertisers, data brokers, social media companies, and other entities can learn about a father and daughter who spend a pleasant day at the park.

One example is the father and daughter taking a selfie at the park, editing the photo with a filter app, and sharing it on social media, a seemingly innocent series of actions that still resulted in data being collected and tracked across multiple apps:

Later at the playground, John and Emma take a selfie. They play with a photo filter app, settling on adding bunny ears to the photo. The filtering app, however, is able to access all the photos on the device and the attached metadata, rather than only the playground selfie. John posts the picture on a social media app. The app links John's current online activity to a trove of data collected by other apps, such as his demographic information and purchasing habits, using an email address, a phone number or an advertising identifier.

The document goes on to list various Apple privacy features that would have given the father and daughter more transparency and control over their data, including the choice to give the filter app access to only their selfie, instead of the entire photo library.

The document also highlights Apple's four key privacy principles and provides more information about App Tracking Transparency, a privacy measure that will require apps to request permission to track users starting with the next iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 betas. Apple says the software updates will be released in the early spring.

"Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your own data," said Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi, in a statement shared today. "Our goal is to create technology that keeps people's information safe and protected. We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and our teams work every day to embed it in everything we make."

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be speaking on data privacy today at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference, based in Brussels. Cook is scheduled to speak at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time, and a live stream will be available on YouTube.

Top Rated Comments

QCassidy352 Avatar
28 months ago

I bet you most people will be ok with data tracking over convenience.
Which is fine, if they want to make that choice. But it should be a (transparent) choice.
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BWhaler Avatar
28 months ago
Excellent PDF; but should be a video series.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
28 months ago

I just read the document and it was very nice. They showed how an average person is tracked in a simple but easily understandable way. This can be shown to non tech enthusiastic people who do not know or care about Privacy.
The average person doesn't care about being tracked. They will only wake up when that information is used against them in a really bad way. Today that is happening with a tiny fraction of the population. Over time that will grow and by then it will be too late for the average person to do anything about it.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
28 months ago
Is Data Privacy Day the day that Facebook and Google stop tracking everyone for a day?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
subjonas Avatar
28 months ago

This is all fine and dandy while Apple being the richest company in the world.
But, they day social media apps costs hundreds of dollars, the little filter app for selfies 200 dollars and so on, the silver lining may fade.

For now, apps and social media is dead cheap, if not for free, because it's actually an advertising platform. Nobody watches linear TV anymore, or commercial radio, which means that way is not so appealing to advertisers. Environment concerns and cost prohibit the use of postal SPAM, while email SPAM is not that effective, and scorned upon by most people.

Advertisers will find new ways, but it will be at the cost of all the cheap apps and services.
Imagine Google charging by the search. Sure, there might be free alternatives, but not as good. YouTube charing $50 a month for unlimited views, FaceBook, Instagram, "whatever's IN this week-social media app" costs $20 with a $10 recurring fee for usage.

I can't say I'd be bothered, at all, since I exist on no social media platform, or use Google, or whatever. But, I expect a lot the now very vocal privacy advocates and FaceBook-haters will be unpleasantly surprised when the services they rely on and the apps they want raises their monthly "internet-services-bill" a couple of hundred dollars a month.
I totally agree it will be an unpleasant surprise, but it’s long been coming. The simple fact is the public has been living in a fantasy land, getting mostly free apps, not asking what the true cost is and who’s paying it (because everything has a cost). Now the cost is (hopefully) being made known, so people will finally have to come to terms with whether they want to continue paying for it with their personal data, or pay the actual money cost, or just do without it. I see it as simply an overdue wake up call to the real world.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AmazeSE Avatar
28 months ago
I just read the document and it was very nice. They showed how an average person is tracked in a simple but easily understandable way. This can be shown to non tech enthusiastic people who do not know or care about Privacy.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Unified Volume Button and Mute Button

Monday March 20, 2023 8:33 am PDT by
As previously rumored, the next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a unified volume button and a mute button, according to leaked CAD images shared in a video on the Chinese version of TikTok and posted to Twitter by ShrimpApplePro. Instead of separate buttons for volume up and volume down, the iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have a single elongated button for...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 for iPhone Nearing Launch With These 5 New Features

Monday March 20, 2023 11:50 am PDT by
Apple says iOS 16.4 is coming in the spring, which began this week. In his Sunday newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the update should be released "in the next three weeks or so," meaning a public release is likely in late March or early April. iOS 16.4 remains in beta testing and introduces a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone. Below, we have recapped five new features ...
original iphone auction

Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction

Friday March 17, 2023 1:08 pm PDT by
A first-generation iPhone still sealed inside its box sold for $54,904 at auction, which is more than $54,000 over the original $599 price tag of the device when it was released in 2007. The original iPhone was put up for sale by RR Auction on behalf of a former Apple employee who purchased it back when it first came out. Back in February, an original, sealed iPhone sold for over $63,000,...
voice isolation

iOS 16.4 Adds Voice Isolation for Cellular Phone Calls

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:01 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 update that is set to be released to the public in the near future includes voice isolation for cellular calls, according to notes that Apple shared today. Apple says that Voice Isolation will prioritize your voice and block out the ambient noise around you, making for clearer phone calls where you can better hear the person you're chatting with and vice versa. Voice...
iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro Feature

iPhone 12 Pro vs. 15 Pro: New Features to Expect if You've Waited to Upgrade

Friday March 17, 2023 10:29 am PDT by
While year-over-year iPhone upgrades are not always groundbreaking, new features can begin to stack up over multiple generations. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro will be a notable upgrade for those who still have a three-year-old iPhone 12 Pro. If you are still using an iPhone 12 Pro and are considering upgrading to the iPhone 15 Pro when it launches later this year, we have put together a...
top stories 18mar2023

Top Stories: iPhone 15 Pro Pricing, New iOS 16.4 Beta, Siri vs. ChatGPT, and More

Saturday March 18, 2023 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's high-end iPhone models have started at $999 in the U.S. since they first launched back in 2017 with the iPhone X, but could this finally be the year that starting price sees an increase? This week also saw some more rumors about Apple's upcoming headset and the company's explorations in the booming AI industry as well as the release of a new round of beta updates, so read on for all...
smart monitor m8 samsung

Deals: Samsung's iMac-Like Smart Monitor M8 Drops to Lowest Price of Year So Far With $250 Discount

Monday March 20, 2023 8:27 am PDT by
Samsung today kicked off a special "Discover Samsung" event, which will be a week-long savings event focusing on Samsung monitors, smartphones, TVs, appliances, and more. While some deals will stick around the entire week (through March 26), others will refresh every day. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...